I write and speak about leadership, business culture, and marketing innovation. I led strategic digital initiatives for Fortune 500 brands such as Intel and Accenture and am passionate about my work. I am an author of the WSJ bestseller "Think Like Zuck" and co-author of "The Power of Visual Storytelling." I believe in connecting people. "Why?", "What if?" and "How can I help you?" are my favorite questions. Chocolate, fashion, and a good book are my vices.

7 Unconventional Behaviors Of Inspiring Leaders

There are very few great managers. And even fewer great leaders. Making your team happy by displaying behaviors that are expected from you as a manager is hard. But it is even harder to inspire people to follow you, especially if you don’t have direct authority over them.

Leaders are not always perfect. And, sometimes, they are downright quirky. But they display a set of behaviors that make them admired and loved. Let’s look at some of the rare ones.

Great leaders:

Play Devil’s Advocate

Have you ever seen a leader who continuously pushes you to look deeper and challenges status quo by regularly and passionately taking the other side of the argument, even if s(he) agrees with your point of view? My guess is your answer is no. Playing devil’s advocate and ferociously challenging your assumptions works well in scientific experiments, but we rarely see it in business.

Great leaders play the game of 10 “why?”s, asking the question over and over again to test their understanding of the underlying strategy. They defend the opposite point of view just to explore what else their teams forgot to uncover that may be critical to their mission or a project.

It is easy to think that we are right, it soothes our egos. But it takes courage to stand up to and challenge your own experiences, knowledge, ideas.

Take the blame

If there is a blame to be had, great leaders take it on. If there is a credit to be given, they give it away to others. Granted, it’s a very rare behavior, but the one that truly creates a following. Exceptional leaders protect their teams and they are humble when it comes to owning up to the accomplishments.

Couldn’t care less about conventional wisdom

The more you say “it’s never been done” before, the more excited they get about changing that fact. And they build the teams around them that never take no for an answer. It’s hard to manage a team of rebels, but that’s exactly what’s needed to change the norm, to challenge the old, and invent the new.

And they don’t care about the failures, because they know that the only thing that matters is their response to those failures. Failures teach. Circumstances change. Pioneers stumble while shaping the path for others. And that’s okay.

Shut Up

Have you ever been in a meeting when the most senior executive in the room have not spoken a word during the whole meeting? And I don’t mean because (s)he would be on a laptop or a mobile phone doing email. No, rather sitting in the room intently listening to the very important strategic discussion. No? Well, I have. And I have to tell you – it is both a little creepy and awe-inspiring at the same time.

Malcom Forbes once said: “The art of conversation lies in listening.” Some of the best leaders make it a point to not have their opinions heard right off the bat, but rather sit back and truly listen to what their teams have to say, maybe occasionally asking a question or two. You can get some amazing insights and inspire some great ideas just by sitting there and not contradicting (or agreeing, for that matter) with the opinions of others. Those leaders tell me that it is very hard to do, but tremendously rewarding to exercise this every now and then.

Intentionally seek diversity

We’ve all seen managers surround themselves with “yes” people. We’ve all seen favoritism in our careers – after all, it is human nature to like those that look/speak/dress like us. But exceptional leaders go outside of their comfort zones in recruiting their teams, they intentionally seek diversity of opinions/ages/genders/perspectives/experiences. They don’t want to build an army of “yes” men and women, they want to innovate and evolve. And one can’t do that without the benefits of diversity.

Great leaders are also great innovators. And they know that curiosity and naiveté are critical conditions of innovation. They are humble enough to accept if they don’t know something and smart enough to constantly learn throughout their career.

But they are also sharp enough to know that times change and that no one person can know everything. They ask “why?” and “why not?” constantly, and are always open to reverse mentorship with younger generations realizing that there are some things younger professionals are just smarter about.

Disappear

Understanding how critical it is to sometimes disconnect and reflect, extraordinary leaders will disappear for a while. They will do something else, change their routine, and learn something absolutely new outside of their professional interests. They are masters of creating white space in which creativity thrives. Not only that, they are masters of knowing their limits and when their energy levels need recharging to continue to operate successfully long-term.

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Good article. Like # 5, “Intentionally seek diversity” – especially diversity of thought (which often may follow diversity of gender, ethnicity, experience). Always liked how one executive I had great respect for, in explaining his candid approach to his own management, used to say: “You’re paying me for my opinions. If you’re paying just to say what you want to hear me say, than you’re paying me too much.”

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I agree with everything you said, but I must add one more from our widely known motivational speaker and former stockbroker Jordan Belfort. What Belfort used to do when he was interviewing the new employees is expanding their beliefs. He told them to put aside all their background and past and if they say the words he teaches them they will become as powerful as the most powerful CEO in whole America. Why was he saying this? Because he was instantly expanding their limiting beliefs and he was removing the “governor” they used to have in the past.

I agree with all of the behaviors listed in the article. Of course these are all logical when you think about because of the culture these behaviors will create and then inspire. A culture of acceptance is created, a freedom to voice your opinions without fear. When we are in this kind of environment a trust is established and innovation can flow more freely. I think a great leader is one where the employees have the opportunity to take risks and the freedom to fail. I particularly like “Take the Blame”, having had the opportunity to work under a leader that this was part of their manta was truly inspiring to see. It created a team of people that were particularly motivated to work for this leader and with one another.

Jessica, can’t agree more. This behavior creates trust and nothing can buy trust. When people trust their leaders, they are willing to go above and beyond for them. And that’s what you are looking for – people’s best – to create true innovation and consistent growth.

With economic recovery seeming to finally take hold this year, I was not surprised that many of the Davos 2014 speakers sounded a positive note for the future. Nowhere was this more evident than in the remarks from country leaders. But these leaders understood that there is still a lot of work to be done—and it was striking how in sync they were when it came to the challenge going forward: building and sustaining growth.

Your point about shutting up and listening is one of the least used and under-appreciated techniques of being a good leader. People abhor silences and rush to fill them, often revealing far more information and far more genuine information than they intended. It’s a great tool for a leader to really learn what’s really on people’s minds.

I am biggest proponent of “Take the Blame” and want to really practice “Shut Up” phenomenon to depth. I have seen positive results of former and know what could latter accomplish but need to practice. Any tips you can give to imbibe “Shut Up” in our DNA?

Hello Ekaterina thanks a lot for sharing such a great article with us, I am really delighted to find this “7 unconventional behaviors”. Leaders always think in unconventional way and these are their leadership qualities. “Communication” is another thing you can always find in leaders. Leaders are great communicator.

Great points! I especially like the simple and effective advice to Shut up. Let the participants (or clients) run the meeting. The backstory of their comments frequently reveals volumes about their true motivations, points that emerge without really being verbalized!

I liked the article and I share the idea that a leader can be admired, but a leader can become admired and loved at the same time it seems difficult for a working relationship. Basically there is a strong economic interest that forces get the better of you for meeting goals and objectives generally seeking monetary result. As an example I can mention Steve Jobs who has been admired and studied by many people, but, it seems, did not perceive that their partners love for his leadership.

Great post Ekaterina. Some very interesting characteristic of great leaders. Great leaders are humble and selfless, I believe. They are great listeners too. I also like your comment that great leaders know how to shut up and listen.

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Great article! I’ve seen “Shut Up” in real life and it gives great, although sometimes unexpected, results. I would expand this to “Stay Away and Let People Make Mistakes” – to many bosses just jump at people on any occasion that they screw something up. My idea is: let them learn from failure, don’t put them down on every occasion. As they say you learn the most from your own mistakes – they hurt the most.

In my career, I did well with all of those areas except the “conventional wisdom” clause. That’s not to say I wasn’t always looking for a better way of getting things done, just that I usually prefer to err on the side of caution. Actually, my industry pretty much demanded that. If you made the wrong call, it could lead to big time safety issues, as well as big time fiscal issues.

I think my best quality was playing devil’s advocate. I do that with anything and everything, even with myself. Some employees didn’t get it, and thought I was just hounding them. Not at all. I just wanted to know how they got to their conclusion and what they may do if it didn’t work out the way they planned. And to see if they could enlighten me, seeing something in a way I never did.